Partnerships – Spring Term

Mr Mark Willingham, Outreach and Partnerships

This term has featured several events at Bancroft’s to which we have welcomed pupils from local partner schools or other members of our wider community.

We saw two special performances of Carnival of the Animals. Children from St John’s and Oakhill Schools joined with our own Prep pupils for a schools’ performance. This was followed on Friday 17 March with a wonderful neurodivergent-friendly performance to a room full of enthralled guests from ELHAP, Phab, Oakview School and Woodcroft School. We are very grateful to the music department and, of course, the supremely talented pupils for putting on such a brilliant show.

On 30 March, we hosted a community coffee morning, with a particular focus on inviting the more elderly members in our community links. They were able to regale and swap stories with members of our Thirds and L6, and were then treated to musical performances from our talented musicians and singers in the Thirds, culminating with a nostalgic sing-song of some classic hits from yesteryear.

We are grateful to the careers team who continue to place partnerships at the forefront of their work. Early in the term, Bancroft’s hosted a Competitive University Admissions Workshop with speakers from Bath, Oxford, UCL and Warwick covering choosing a course, the personal statement, what universities are looking for and applying to Oxford. Pupils from eight schools were invited. On 28 March, we hosted the University and Careers fair, with 42 exhibitors from universities, colleges, corporates and services. For the latter event we were joined by seven visiting schools, who sent over 300 pupils. The schools were Roding Valley, Woodbridge, Heathcote, Chingford Foundation, The Drapers’ Academy, Trinity and St Paul’s Way Trust. The response from our visitors was very positive. One pupil from Roding Valley said,” Attending the Bancroft’s University and Apprenticeship Fair was an incredibly enriching experience for me.

I was able to gain a wealth of knowledge and insights from students studying at and teachers representing many of the prominent universities in the UK. I had the opportunity to speak with representatives from well-known employers and companies about apprenticeship and degree courses, and gained a better understanding of my future options.”

Our Primary Science Fair continues to be a really popular event with local schools. This year we had two hundred visitors from Years 6 and 5 at seventeen local Prep and Primary Schools. They enjoyed the various stalls run by members of the L6 on the theme of “Connections” as well as time spent in the three science zones.

We continue to support Pool Schools in their weekly community swimming endeavours. Through this. we are superbly supported by pupils in the Fifth and Sixth Form who continue to develop great relationships with the swimmers who attend. We continue to build links on enrichment projects with other schools with the National Gallery in London with the aim of building cultural literacy and capital.